Shazeer will take on the role of technical lead for Gemini, collaborating with co-leaders Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals, as outlined in a memo to employees.
Gemini refers to the series of AI models under development by DeepMind, Google’s AI division, which are being incorporated into various products, including Search and Pixel smartphones.
Shazeer recently returned to Google from the chatbot company he co-founded in 2021, with the tech giant investing billions to bring him and several other employees into DeepMind and to finalize a licensing agreement with Character.AI.
"We are excited to join the best team on earth, creating the most valuable technology on earth," Shazeer stated in an email response to the memo, which was reviewed by Reuters.
The memo was initially reported by The Information.
Shazeer originally joined Google in 2000, just two years after its founding, and co-authored a pivotal 2017 research paper that sparked the current AI revolution.
Character.AI leverages the technological advancements introduced in this paper. The company has secured $193 million in funding and was valued at $1 billion last year by venture capitalists.
In November, Reuters reported that Google was in discussions to invest hundreds of millions in Character.AI but ultimately chose to bring Shazeer back.
This strategy mirrors similar actions by Amazon and Microsoft to attract top talent from AI startups, occurring during a period of increased regulatory scrutiny for Big Tech companies.
While these moves are not formal acquisitions, they are still under review by the Federal Trade Commission.
This month, a U.S. judge ruled that Google’s search engine violated antitrust laws by spending billions to establish an illegal monopoly.
